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History is simply a continuous process and cannot beryllium taught successful fragments, eminent historiographer Romila Thapar has said, portion calling the signifier of removal of full dynasties specified arsenic the Mughals from textbooks arsenic “nonsense”.
Speaking online astatine the ongoing ninth variation of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF), Thapar connected Saturday (January 25, 2026) addressed issues ranging from the emergence of fashionable past connected societal media to the value of feminist past and the cardinal relation of acquisition successful questioning existing knowledge.
“The kinds of things that are happening, where, for example, chunks of past are being thrown retired of the syllabus, oregon we are told we don’t request to survey them, are nonsense. History is simply a continuous process. It is an improvement of radical and cultures, of ways of behaviour and ways of thinking," Ms. Thapar said.
"That continuity cannot beryllium breached by saying, ‘All right, we propulsion this dynasty out, we propulsion Mughals out, we propulsion retired that'. It breaks past up and makes nary sense," said the renowned historian, who has authored implicit 25 scholarly books, during the league "Women Writing History: Three Generations".
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has reportedly revised its Class 7 Social Science textbook for the 2025-26 world year, removing chapters connected the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals.
Besides, it besides present focuses connected past Indian dynasties specified arsenic the Mauryas, Shungas, and Satavahanas, on with taste traditions and ineffable sites crossed spiritual traditions.
The 94-year-old historiographer besides voiced interest implicit the increasing power of "popular history" connected societal media, saying it often blurs the enactment betwixt informed assistance and opinion. She earnestly urged radical to trust connected statements from nonrecreational historians erstwhile seeking close explanations of past events.
“There is simply a quality present betwixt the two—popular past and what nonrecreational historians write—and it is important to enactment that quality and recognize what it entails. When quoting a humanities statement, 1 should beryllium alert whether it comes from nonrecreational humanities penning oregon a connection propagated connected societal media,” Ms. Thapar explained.
Reflecting connected her ain travel arsenic a historian, Ms. Thapar admitted that portion she whitethorn not person consciously written past from a woman’s position passim her career, she consistently tried to incorporated feminist insights wherever possible.
More importantly, she emphasised the request for women successful nonrecreational spaces to asseverate their autonomy and request respect, adding that penning feminist past was important, but arsenic captious was “behaving similar a feminist” by lasting for independence, captious reasoning and intellectual freedom.
"An autonomous woman, I think, is essential. Therefore, my cognition to this has been, yes, we person to constitute feminist history, that is simply a given, but if I americium not penning feminist history, I americium astatine slightest behaving similar a feminist. I americium propagating that an autonomous pistillate is an perfectly indispensable constituent of immoderate society," Ms. Thapar concluded.
The four-day literate extravaganza is hosting implicit 400 speakers, including Nobel laureates Abdulrazak Gurnah and Abhijit Banerjee, astronaut Sunita Williams, writer Kiran Desai, essayist Pico Iyer, Jnanpith victor Pratibha Ray, sports icons Rohan Bopanna and Ben Johnson, and Wikipedia laminitis Jimmy Wales. KLF 2026, present successful its ninth edition, volition travel to a adjacent connected Sunday (January 25, 2026).
